Drive Through Jazz Theory

In this highly effective tutorial, the 12 Bar Blues, Autumn Leaves, and Rhythm Changes are used as vehicles to rapidly yet thoroughly explore Jazz Theory and Beginning Improvisation.  This course will rapidly equip the student with a deep understanding of the most common, universal, underlying concepts of Jazz Theory, as well as train them in some basic and highly idomatic improvisational approaches (licks) to utilize over those core chord progressions.

It should be noted that this fast-paced course is designed for serious, Intermediate and above level musicians.  A certain amount of instrumental mastery, and experience with both the Major and Harmonic minor scales (in several keys) is required, to make effective use of the information and techniques found herein. 

The student will begin by exploing the Major side of Jazz Theory by first meeting the “V7” (and the seed lick “Indiana Bebop”), then the “ii7” (which is added to Indiana Bebop to make a “real” 2-5 lick), over the 12 Bar Blues.  We will use the most basic of Blues (the “Elvis Blues”) …knowing that this progression forms the taproot of all American music.   We will then branch out into the “I Maj7”, transitioning into a full on “ii7 – V7 – I Maj7″, one of the basic building blocks of Jazz.  A combined Generic Lick is learned, to fit over/”realize” this full on, atomic progression.

The “ii7b5 – V7b9 – i7” progression is the minor counterpart to the “ii7 – V7 – I Maj7”,  and is built using same theoretical approach, except on the Harmonic minor scale.  This dark new progression will then will enable us to perform a simplified version of Autumn Leaves, and a new Generic Lick is learned, mirroring the one we knew from Major, to actualize this new tune.

By assembling both the Major and minor “ii7-V7’s”, a fully fledged “iii7b5 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7” is formed.  This concept is quite complex, and is broken into three separate lessons.  In the first lesson, the underlying concepts of both the Major and minor 2-5-1’s are revisited, then recast into the complex chimera known as a 3-6-2-5-1.   In the next lesson, the student will learn the “3-3’s”, the “generic lick” to use over this complex and fleet-footed progression.  In the third lesson dedicated soley to this concept, those “3-3’s” are put into real-world use over Rhythm Changes. 

In our final two lessons, the skills we gained on Rhythm Changes, and with the 3-3’s lick, are used as we revisit the 12 Bar Blues – now a fully formed Bop Blues – and the Complete Version of Autumn Leaves. 

After taking this course, the student will be conversant with the underlying theoretical tenets of Jazz Theory, and also functional as an Improvisor in a basic fashion over all those ideas and settings.

Who this course is for:

• This Crash Course is designed for those beginning their exploration of Jazz Theory and Improvisation (specifically on the Saxophone, but it is applicable to ANY instrument)